Kashmiris Observe ‘Accession To Pakistan Day’ Today

Today, they reiterate their commitment to direct their energies and resources for their liberation from the unjust Indian occupation.

Kashmir has been divided between India and Pakistan since 1947, but both the countries claim the territory in its entirety.

Although Kashmiris had decided to join Pakistan on July 19, 1947, clearly even before its independence, it remained a disputed region until today.

Tens of thousands of people, mostly civilians, have died in the fighting since 1989 when the armed rebellion against Indian rule erupted.

The authorities imposed a clampdown and curfew throughout the Indian-held Kashmir valley as they fought violent protests that erupted on July 9.

The upheaval began after the killing of Burhan Muzaffar Wani, a commander for the Hizbul Mujahedeen, fighting to separate Kashmir from Indian rule.

As a sign of escalation following the recent wave of protests, the resistance leadership opposed to Indian rule of the disputed Himalayan territory has sought the intervention of the United Nations (UN) and the world against the new wave of state terror in the Indian-held Kashmir.

The All Parties Hurriyat Conference leader Syed Ali Geelani, while writing a letter to the world leaders and organisations said, “India continues to institutionally perpetrate violence in Jammu and Kashmir, and has ensured so far that no armed forces personnel involved in heinous war crimes to be prosecuted by its own judicial mechanism”.

In a bid to crush freedom uprising in the divided Kashmir, police had seized tens of thousands of newspapers and detained printing press workers, ramping up an information blackout.

With the internet and mobile networks already suspended, authorities had also halted cable television; fearing news of protesters’ deaths could fuel further protests after the restive region’s worst violence in years.

It is the worst civilian violence to hit the region since 2010 when mass protests broke out and left 120 dead.

Hospitals in the main city of Srinagar have struggled to cope with the rush of wounded, hundreds of them with severe injuries in their eyes as the Indian forces now routinely use pellet guns to thwart roadside demonstrations.